Sandustry Water Guide

Account for Water that is consumed

Wetting Sand consumes Water: 1 Sand and 1 Water become 2 Wet Sand. Wetting a Seed also consumes Water rather than returning it to storage. Put the source reservoir upstream of these reactions. A recirculating pipe cannot recover Water that has become another material.

Separate loss diagnosis from demand. If the level drops only while Sand feeds, compare the wetting input with the supply. If it drops with the consumer paused, inspect basin edges and diagonal corners. The official Water page notes corner leakage and loss of droplets that fail to settle; a closed-looking outline can still leak.

Connect Pump, Pipe and Liquid Vent

A Pump needs liquid touching it and a connected Pipe. A Liquid Vent releases liquid from the same network. Keep the Pump clear of non-liquid pixels and give the Vent an outlet above the receiving pool. The official Vent page says it stops releasing when all but the top row is submerged. Raising capacity upstream cannot force a submerged outlet to empty.

The published upper rates are 16 liquid pixels per tick for a fully submerged Pump and 4 per tick per Vent. These are component limits, not measured sustained throughput for your factory. A mixed network can deliver unwanted liquids to every outlet, so keep the Water supply separate from other fluid circuits. Lava is excluded from this transport system.

Choose a source rather than assuming a closed loop

Natural pools are finite storage. Ice and Snow routes change material state; Water heated into Steam can rise and return as rain if the path reaches the sky. A ceiling traps Steam, so locate the destination before applying heat. Read the renewable-water guide for the distinction between external replenishment and recovered rain-buffer Water.

For commissioning, pause Sand and plant inputs, confirm the Pump-to-Vent path fills the reservoir, then enable one consumer. This ordering isolates a blocked transport path from excessive consumption. The diagram is an editorial explanation of connections, not an in-game screenshot or a guaranteed production rate.

Troubleshooting

• A Pump stops even though Water surrounds it

  Clear solid pixels from the Pump's central intake area and confirm the connected Vent has room to output.

• Steam never returns as usable rain

  Open the shaft to the sky and shape a collection basin beneath the condensation path instead of sealing the vapor underground.

• Water leaks through a block corner

  Add another solid block across the diagonal joint; liquids can escape through an unsealed two-block corner.